The Truth About Feminism

And why we're bringing it back!

Recently, I sent a very unscientific survey to a group of family and friends, both male and female. My main question: Do you consider yourself a feminist?

Their candid answers were shocking.

Most women stated that they weren't feminists. Not feminists … "but I believe in equal pay for equal work." Not feminists … "but I should be in control of my own body, and what I do with it." One friend wrote that modern feminism "brings up the old burn-your-bra mindset, which I hope is dead and gone."

Another male friend responded, "Modern feminism isn't about men and women being equal; it's about women thinking they're superior to men."

It turns out that my friends-and-family survey findings weren't so different from the results of a May 2013 poll by Economist/YouGov. In it, only 28 percent of Americans said that they considered themselves to be feminists. What's more, 23 percent of those polled said that they believed calling someone a feminist was actually an insult.